Wayward Sons

Hello to all!

As excited as I was from various AW hacks (including tremulus, Urban Shadows and Monster of the Week) I decided to try out my own hack. Those interested may follow the project at our gaming blog: http://blog.guildredemund.net/

I started the project using the guide lines for Simple World but will move forward once we get the process on the run.

The game we be hopefully be something like a hybrid of X-Files and Supernatural enhanced with the themes and ideas of horror movies from 80s and 90s.

Finally got around to write the basic moves: http://blog.guildredemund.net/2013/09/18/aw-hack-basic-moves/

Comments, suggestions and feedback are appreciated.

I love your "Investigate" move.  It's a definite improvement on the Tremulus version.  I might actually steal it for when I run Tremulus in a few weeks.

I'm not sure exactly where you're going with "Fight".  It looks like you're trying to combine "seize by force" and "go aggro" into one.  Those moves are pretty specific to the way violence works in AW, and are out of place elsewhere (*cough* tremulus *cough*).  I don't think combining them into one really changes their nature.  I'd think carefully about how exactly you want violence to work in your game (which will take some narrowing-down.  Violence in Supernatural works differently than violence in the X files which is different than violence in horror movies)  If you haven't seen it already, look at the "lash out" move in MonsterHearts--it's very different, and perfect for that setting.

I think Instinct should come with a list of questions... but that doesn't mean you need to write that list right away.  Maybe play as is for a bit, see which questions end up getting asked, and then write your list.

Thanks for the input and praises. Feel free to steal everything and give feedback of how it works.

I'll definitely check out the MonsterHearts for violence (it has always been something of a downfall for me in all rpgs). I want to downgrade the combat (so no "slayer moves") while still keep it relevant. It is an important part of the game anyway.

Instinct actually had a list of questions as I started. Those were mostly stolen from tremulus but I felt them to be a bit narrowing. I think I'll do exactly what you proposed - use it as it is and write down the questions my players ask.

In "other news" I'll be explaining a bit more about the game itself during this week when I get the time to write it down.

As I'm going with a campaign approach on this one I was wondering if someone had already done some "tier based" playbooks?

I'm thinking that when the game starts all characters start with common people. Once they advance they may reach a point when a new set of playbooks "comes available" or "is unlocked". Let's say a someone start with a biker and manages to take all the advances on their career. On the top of your basic "expanded improvement" they would have an option to add an additional playbook to their character. One that no-one can start with.

That's pretty similar to Dungeon World's compendium classes. When a certain fictional trigger is met, the player can choose an "entry move" for the CC the next time they Level Up (advance). After that, they can choose moves from their CC in place of core class moves.

It's not quite the same as what you're proposing, but it fills a similar purpose.

Thanks! I'll be checking that one out next.

Someone on the monsterhearts board made a "mentor" playbook that could only be taken as a season advance.  Monsterhearts in general had a whole set of "growing up moves" that could only be taken as a season advance--they weren't playbook specific, though.

Are you hoping to create playbooks that do a new kind of thing?  Or the same thing at another level.  If it's the latter, take a look at dungeon world's 6-10 level advancements, or the Ultimate moves in my own "world of nine swords" hack.

I know that the authors (Vincent Baker and John Harper, IIRC) of Knife and Candle were planning on having explicit tiers in that game.  But I don't know how far into that design they got before deciding that their time was best spent on other projects.

What I was planing was introducing a set of new playbooks per tier (probably 1-3 tiers to begin with).

1st tier would be down-to-earth characters - like characters in the beginning of a tv-series. Examples could include biker, hooker, private eye, truck driver etc.

2nd tier would be an additional playbook. Thus they would keep the 1st they began with. This second tier would be something more special along the lines of characters that are more accustomed to fighting the supernatural. They would not be improved 1st tier playbooks. What I'm thinking is that they would be something more special like sorcerer, hunter, scholar, attuned, tainted etc. This would allow the players to come up with "combos" with the playbooks (more possibilities for a broken path, but more possibilities for fun too). This could also be used as an entry point if the gaming group did not like to start with mundane characters.

3rd tier would be the top of the notch. The best of the best. Cult leader, action star, slayer, mob boss... Something along the lines of usual playbooks of AWhacks. This could also be used as an entry point if needed.

This way the players would have something to aim to. "Oh I want to be a cult leader! I wonder how my character will reach that state". And again if someone would be running just a oneshot he/she could be using any tier preferred.

We played through the 1st "setup" session two nights ago. Five preliminary playbooks were created (athlete, con-artist, evangelist, dealer, and lawyer). It was a solid start and were going to build on that after my trip to northern Finland.

I'll try to update the process as soon as possible.

"As soon as possible" turned out to be almost two weeks due a holiday trip and some not-so-funny insomnia.

The quick reference of our first session as well as the first five playbooks (drafts) can be found HERE.

I do hope that some of you find the time to comment on the playbooks!

The 1st draft of this hack is ready to be presented here. After running only two sessions with it, it still needs a lot of work but the basic structure is there.

Download:
The Core Rules (pdf)
Playbooks (zip)

We played through another session last Wednesday and it lead to some rewriting of the rules (no updates on the files still though).

http://blog.guildredemund.net/2013/11/22/wayward-sons-grinding-the-system/

doc_cthulhu, I keep trying to reply to the private message you sent me and the website keeps crashing.  please just e-mail me at alanrileyscott@gmail.com

Another session behind. It is getting more and more apparent that I need to rebuild the playbooks. They just do not stand out in any interesting way. Discipline will most likely be out of the window and get replaced with a more abstract stat that can be used in more ways. I also need to tackle the issue of fronts/threats whatever I will call them.

It does not help that we are moving in a week and I'm writing a new campaign for WFRP at the same time. ^_^